Post escrito por: Slawka Grabowska
The Immortalists, Chloe Benjamin
G.P. Putnam’s Sons Cop., 2018
346 pages
ISBN 978-0-7352-1318-0
Released in January 2018, The Immortalists by Chloe Benjamin follows one family over five decades. The starting point is a moment when a fortune teller tells each of the four siblings, still children, their fates and the day they’ll die. In the Donostia Book Club we have decided to choose this original family saga as this month’s read and we are going to talk about it in detail on December, 12th.
It’s her second novel by the author and it revolves around an interesting question: If you knew the date of your death, how would you live your life? The book explores the ideas of fate and free will, the power of belief, and the bonds of family and these will be probably the main topics of our discussion.
Even though the subjects chosen by Chloe Benjamin sound really serious, the readers tend to call the novel not only original and entertaining buy also a page-turner. Hopefully the members of Donostia Book Club and those of you who decide to read it on your own will form similar opinions!
If you would like to ponder more in depth about some of the events described in The Immortalists, we have some questions for you:
- How did the beliefs of the Gold siblings impact each of their lives? - Do you believe that the siblings’ fate was preordained? Why or why not? - Which of the siblings did you most identify with? Which character’s life most surprised you? Why? - In what ways did the different settings in the novel influence the story? Why do you think all of the Gold children left New York City? - How do you think the lives of the Gold siblings would be different if they hadn’t visited the fortune-teller? - How do magic and reality blur in the novel? Were there any particular moments that seemed to defy logic? Why are certain characters drawn to magic and the unknowable more than others? - Were you satisfied with how the novel ended? Were you left with any questions? - What does the title The Immortalists mean to you?